Thermostatic valve control for water heaters



March 20, 1951 P. E. PARKINSON THERMOSTATIC VALVE CONTROL FOR WATER HEATERS Filed April 8, 1947 INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY Percy E. Parkinson Patented Mar. 20, 195i UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE H I 52 545,748 TIiERMG'S'iA-TIG JVALVE CONTROL 'F'R Y WATER HEATERS Percy ilitarkinsonffietroit, Mich. Application April "3, 1947", Serial No. "740,191

My invention pertains to a device to housed in conjunction witr-i a tank :in: which water mayv be heated for household uses by-meansof vgas or electricity. The object of my invention is to provide a device which may be set to automatically discontinue the application of heat -to the contents of a tank when-a predetermined volume of Water .has been brought to a desired temperature l It will be understood that the device, although designed forhousehold use may be employed for industrial purposes. Also that its application is in no way restricted to tanks for heating Water but that the same may be alsoinstalled for the purpose of application of. heat to volumes'of other contents or other rnaterial -wh'ere in industrial pursuits thismay prove desirable. I shall now describe my invention with reference to the accompanying drawings in Which Figure 1 is a perspective View of a conven: tional water tank for household use, a gas heater for same and that of my device as applied to said tank;

Figure 2 is an enlarged view of a detail of construction on line 22 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is, a sectional view'onlihe 3-4 of the detail shown in Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a sectional view of the same detail with some elements shown in side elevation, the View disclosing an element of my device in a different operative position;

Figure 5 is a sectional view on line 5-5 of Figure 3;

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

The tank In of the usual household type, rests on legs II. The gas heater generally indicated by numeral I2 is connected to the tank by means of a pipe I3 and includes a burner and a heating coil which, being of a well known variety, is not disclosed. What is important and what is disclosed is a valve M in a gas supplying pipe l5. The valve is to be operated by a lever l6 and is normally in a closed position, being kept in that state either by weight or by a spring which may be a part of the valve. A chain l1 affixed to the lever serves as a means of opening the valve and leads to a thermostatic device which is generally indicated by numeral I8. This includes a circular plate l9 supported at diametrically op-' posite ends by a metal band encircling the tank. The free ends of the band are clamped at 2|, this being done in a manner to permit the band to be shifted vertically on the tank to any desired level thereon. The disk, it will be noted,

2' claims; (01. 126-351) is slightly curved to conform to the curvature of the wall of the tank and fits snugly against-fit.

Normally, abutting against the plateis a thermostatic element 22 consisting of a plurality'ffioi hollow disk shaped containers 23,- made ofl thiii flexible-sheet metal, andfilled with gas or a-mixture of gases for-expansion thereof on "application of heat thereto. external axial boss -24, ex tends fromlsaid elementa'nd carries a link. 25' pivoted therein for connection 'with 'other ele"-" ments to be "described herein. I i

Projecting outwardly .from the plate is a U- shaped .bracket '26 "which straddles the therm'o static element 22, thelower arm 27 of thebracket' having a trough-like formation 28'-1for nesting the lower portion-of said thermostatic element: Partly disposed within itheJ-bra'ck'et and" passing through slots 29 and 3i] in'the top and bottom arm thereof, respectively, is an oblong" bai' 3| which at its lower. end, outside the bracket,- is afiixed to a chain leading to-lever 16; -At theopposite end, the bar is suspended from a chain 32' which may pass 'throughthe floor of an or"-' dinary dwelling house and may be attached a terminal fixture 33 on a wall 34; The-bar isindented to -form a right angle shoulder 35, best shown in Figure 4. As-the: lower slot 30 in the lower arm 3-11 of bracket 3 6, is verticallyTout= r'of alignment with the slot in the top arm, the bar assumes a position slanting at its upper portion towards the tank, permitting the shoulder to jut over the edge of the upper slot as on the end closer to the tank. This is shown in Figure 3.

An oblong slot 36 in the direction of the axis of said bar accommodates the outer end of link 25 extending outwardly from boss at on the thermostatic element 22.

As a means of adjusting the depth of engagement of shoulder 35 over the edge of slot 29, I have provided a cam 31, made in the form of a circular wafer pivoted eccentrically by means of bolt 38 on the upper arm of bracket 26.

To conclude the description of the device, I Wish to add that for the purpose of limiting the upward movement of bar 3 I, the bracket includes an inwardly bent stop 39 which is struck out from the body of said bracket.

I shall now describe the operation of my device. It may be assumed that the tank in which the water is to be heated, is placed in the basement of a dwelling and that the chain 32 leading upwardly from bar 3| is located above the ground floor. The above arrangement is used only for illustration and may be changed when desired.

It will be understood that, normally, valve l4 is closed, this by virtue of a suitable spring, built into the valve or by virtue of a weight properly applied thereto. It is assumed that the band carrying the thermostat will be disposed at a desired level on the tank. Since th thermostatic element is to be actuated by changes of temperature of water within the tank, the level at which the band is placed will depend upon the quantity of water to be heated, said quantity being gauged from the top of the tank. To set the device into operation, bar 3! is pulled upwardly by means of chain 32 which is afiixed to a bracket 33 above the location of the tank. The upward movement of the bar will be limited by stop 39, extending into the path of link 25 as best shown in Figure 2. When said bar 3| has been lifted upwardly to the limit of its movement, a shoulder 35 in the edge of the bar will slip over the edge of cam 31, placed over the edge of slot 29 in the upper arm of bracket 26. The upward shift of the bar will swing lever I6 upwardly, opening valve l4, which valve controls the supply of gas for the heater [2. It will be understood that the heater is equipped with a pilot light for ignition of the gas passing through said valve.

' When the temperature of water in the tank at the level of the band has reached a sufficiently high degree, the gas content in the thermostatic element 22 will expand its outer wall this causing link 25 to bear against the bar 3|. Under the pressure of said link, the bar will slip out of engagement with the edge of cam 31 and fall downwardly as shown in Figure 4, thus releasing tension on chain H and lever l6, and permitting the spring actuated valve M to return to its normally closed position. As a result thereof the supply of gas Will be cut off.

. The cam above described serves to adjust the depth of engagement of the shoulder 35 on bar 3| over the edge of said cam. Thus if a higher temperature is needed the depth of the engagement may be increased. This will require a longer linear push on link 25 to disengage the bar from the cam and this in turn means that the temperature of water would have to be brought to a higher degree to cause a larger expansion of the thermostatic unit.

While in the accompanying drawings attention is centered upon a gas operated heater, it will be understood that a similar combination may be fully eifective when an electric heating element should be substituted for the gas heater. It will be further understood that some changes may be mad in the structure of elements described by me and in the combination of parts shown by me without deviating from the inventive principle disclosed herein. What I therefore wish to claim is as follows:

1. A thermostatic device for control of a heat supplying unit, said device including a metallic gas-filled chamber, the chamber being expansible by exposure to heat, a stationary support for the chamber to expose it to a heat source, a bracket mounted on said support, a vertically movable bar having a, shoulder for a suspension on said bracket, link means connecting the bar with the chamber to cause a disengagement of the bar from the bracket On expansion of the chamber to permit the movement of the bar downwardly, and means connected to the bar to disconnect the supply of heat.

2. A thermostatic device to control the valve of a gas burner adapted to heat water in a tank, said device including a circular gas-filled chamber expansible by heat and exposed to the heat of the tank, a bracket mounted by intermediate means on said tank and including two horizontal arms, one above the other, said arms straddling said chamber, a vertically movable bar having a shoulder for suspension from the bracket, link means connecting the bar with the chamber to cause disengagement of th bar from the bracket on expansion of the chamber, and means connected to the bar to operate the 'valve.

. PERCY E. PARKINSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,648,662 Shadrick Nov. 8, 1927 1,800,323 Shadrick Apr. 14, 1931 2,249,886 Dayton July 22, 1941 2,322,520 Jenkins June 22, 943 

